Electrician Tony Hick reads through blueprints of the new 25,000 square-foot home for the Naples Heart Institute at NCH Downtown Naples Hospital. The $8.5 million project is scheduled to be completed in October. David Albers/Staff

Allen Weiss on NewsMakers

NAPLES - Naples Heart Institute will go into the 25,000 square feet of space on the third-floor Briggs Wellness Center that will be built out and equipped with 17 physician offices, 24 exam rooms, and a diagnostic center that is essential for a state-of-the-art cardiac specialty practice.

There won't be ratty magazines perfectly lined up in the morning and scattered around the waiting room by day's end.

Fox News or CNN won't blast the day's disasters and push up the blood pressure and anxiety of the heart patients before their appointments.

It's all in the vision, said Dr. Ron Levine, medical director of Naples Heart Institute, about design details for the group's future quarters on the third floor of the Briggs Wellness Center, on the campus of the NCH Downtown Naples Hospital.

The institute formed in March 2010 when nine heart specialists signed employment contracts with NCH. It's since grown to 14, but they have remained scattered in their former practice locations due to lack of space under one roof to work together.

That's changing with $8.5 million going into the 25,000 square feet of space on the third-floor wellness center to build out and equip 17 physician offices, 24 exam rooms, and a diagnostic center that is essential for a state-of-the-art cardiac specialty practice. Space left vacant will allow for new diagnostic technology, he said.

"We've tried to create this environment that is better prepared for the future," Levine said.

Everything is within reach: NCH's outpatient cardiac catheterization laboratory is next door in the medical plaza building, and that's adjacent to the Shick Heart Center and its open-heart surgery and inpatient cardiac catheterization lab in the main hospital.

Besides the contemporary decor, the institute will forego magazines and noisy televisions in waiting areas. Patients instead will be offered hand-held electronic devices, perhaps iPads, to quietly read or watch what they want.

Besides the contemporary decor, the institute will forego magazines and noisy televisions in waiting areas. Patients instead will be offered hand-held electronic devices, perhaps iPads, to quietly read or watch what they want.

"We didn't want it to feel like a regular doctor's office," Levine said. "We want an environment that is relaxing and comfortable."

Instead of a nurse opening a door and calling out a patient's name that an exam room is ready, patients will be alerted electronically.

Construction began in mid-May and is due to be completed Oct. 1. The physicians will move in over a period of time.

Right now, the 14 specialists in their various locations collectively see about 250 patients a day and about 40 to 50 diagnostic tests are done daily, said Linda Cifani, the institute's administrative director. There presently are about 30 support staff members and that could increase once they move in to the finished space, she said.

"By bringing together, at one location with all the diagnostic services, 14 cardiologists who have the single purpose of caring for patients with cardiac illnesses, we will save lives, be more efficient and attract new patients to our area," said Dr. Allen Weiss, president and chief executive officer of NCH.

Dr. Allen Weiss, president and chief executive officer of NCH, said the heart institute will continue to change the face of cardiac care in the region.

"By bringing together, at one location with all the diagnostic services, 14 cardiologists who have the single purpose of caring for patients with cardiac illnesses, we will save lives, be more efficient and attract new patients to our area," Weiss said.

For several years, NCH's cardiac program consistently has ranked at the top in Florida, according to Denver-based HealthGrades, a physician and hospital rating organization. Its heart attack mortality and readmission rates are below national averages, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' "hospital compare" websites for consumers.

The unified space will be beneficial to patients, said Dr. David Axline, who is part of the group.

"I think it is much simpler for patients to have everything together and it is convenient to be next to the hospital," he said.

For many physicians around the country going into employed relationships of some nature with hospitals, having such a large practice space isn't common, Axline said.

"We're fortunate in that regard," he said. "I have friends (elsewhere) who do not have the opportunity to have a unified place, without building a brand new building, to work together. It's unique."